Tacaná

About Tacaná:

Tacaná fills the north-western corner of San Marcos, where the Sierra Madre crosses into Guatemala from Mexico. Chiapas lies to the west, Tectitán and Cuilco in Huehuetenango to the north, San José Ojetenam and Ixchiguán to the east, and Sibinal to the south. The main way in is the RN-12 Norte, 72 kilometres from San Marcos city through Ixchiguán, and Guatemala City is a little over 320 kilometres away. The stretch between Ixchiguán and Tacaná is badly worn and has needed patching again and again, so plan the trip with time to spare. A second road, route 7W, comes over from Tectitán by way of El Naranjal, Los Andes, Corrondán, La Esperanza and Tuicoche, while the two tracks that reach the Mexican line are ballast, not asphalt.

Farming and livestock keep most households going. Potatoes and maize are the main crops, with tomato and coffee grown as well. The town is the trading centre: its two markets open every day, and on Sunday the plaza fills with local produce, clothes, shoes, cooked food, livestock and goods brought over from Mexico. Communities close to the border often sell their harvest on the Mexican side, which is nearer and pays better, and work across the line in Chiapas has long been part of the family budget. The year peaks on 13 August with the patronal fair of the Virgen de la Asunción, played in on drum and chirimía.

The land climbs from warm cantones in the north, such as La Esperanza, Yerba Santa and Corrondán, to a cold town and colder aldeas around Cheguaté, Las Nubes and Tohamán, where frost between October and February decides what you can plant. Rain falls from May to October, broken by a short dry spell in July, and that is the season when rural roads close and hillsides give way. Tropical Storm Stan destroyed 764 homes in Tacaná in 2005 and left it among the municipalities with the heaviest loss of life in Guatemala; Agatha in 2010 and the earthquake of November 2012 did further damage. Most homes are built of adobe, and that is a large part of why the losses ran so high. Springs are plentiful, and places such as Cheguaté, Canibalillo and Toacá irrigate by gravity while San Pablo uses sprinklers, so a parcel with its own water is a different proposition from one that waits for the rains.

Fewer than one resident in eight lives in the town itself. The rest are spread across 15 aldeas, 11 cantones and more than 130 caseríos, organised into micro-regions with their own development councils. Households keep multiplying, and on ground this steep that pressure falls on the land: new settlements keep appearing wherever families need room to build. Almost every home now has electricity and most have piped water, but drainage still reaches only a minority.

Houses in Tacaná:

In the town, houses stand on paved streets in the barrios and colonias, within walking distance of the markets, the municipal building and the terminal where mototaxis, pickups and microbuses leave for the aldeas. Adobe is still the usual wall, with block in the rest. If you are looking at houses for sale in Tacaná, judge the walls first: look for cracks, ask how the house came through the 2012 earthquake, and check what sits on the slope above it. Out in the aldeas a house comes with a piece of land around it, and the questions widen: where the water comes from, where the waste water goes, and whether the dirt road to the door stays open in September.

Land and Lots in Tacaná:

Parcels change hands by the cuerda, in blocks of a few cuerdas up to a dozen or more, in aldeas such as Valle Verde and El Rosario. Since the size of a cuerda follows local custom, have the seller and a surveyor put the area in square metres before any money moves. The first thing local sellers advertise is access, and they are right to: a parcel a pickup cannot reach in the rains is a parcel you visit on foot. Altitude sets the rest. On high ground near Cheguaté or Las Nubes frost sets the calendar for potatoes and maize, and anywhere with a spring nearby can be irrigated. Before you commit to land in Tacaná, walk the boundary with the neighbours on every side and confirm the parcel has a registration of its own.

FAQ:

• How do I get to Tacaná?

  Take the RN-12 Norte from San Marcos city through Ixchiguán. It is 72 kilometres, and the last section before Tacaná is in poor repair. From Huehuetenango there is a second way in on route 7W through Tectitán. Once in town, mototaxis, pickups and microbuses run from the terminal out to the aldeas.

• Can a foreigner own property in Tacaná?

  Tacaná borders Mexico, and article 123 of the Constitution keeps rural land within 15 kilometres of a border for Guatemalans of origin and companies made up of them. Much of the municipality falls inside that strip. Urban property is exempt, so a house in the town is a different case from a farm parcel in an aldea. Ask a notary to confirm where the property stands before you agree a price.

• What are the risks with land in Tacaná?

  Two: the ground and the split. Stan wrecked thousands of cuerdas of crops and hundreds of homes here, and in 2000 a landslide flattened 12 houses in cantón La Esperanza, aldea Tuicoche, so look at what rises above a parcel and where water runs after a storm. Where a family holding has been divided to make room for new houses, make sure the piece you are buying has its own finca at the property registry, not just a share of a parent’s title, and that the relatives on the other side of the fence agree where it ends.

• When is the best time to build in Tacaná?

  In the dry months, November to April. From May to October the rains close dirt roads and make deliveries of block, sand and cement unreliable, and in the high aldeas frost between October and February can damage concrete poured late in the day. Light frosts can come on clear nights even from March to September, so schedule pours for the morning.

• What day is market day in Tacaná?

  Sunday. The two markets in town open every day, but Sunday brings the plaza and the livestock fair, and families come in from the aldeas to buy what their own communities do not sell. Expect Mexican goods alongside local potatoes and maize.